Directional mounting for area lighting

ABSTRACT

A flood lamp has trunnions which are journaled in a mounting bracket. Detents on the trunnions cooperate with two spaced sockets on the mounting bracket to releasably hold the lamp in two alternative positions about the trunnion axis, which positions are spaced ninety degrees apart. On the lamp housing are sights which define a line of sight for aiming purposes, which line of sight intersects the axis of illumination at 90* .

United States Patent 1 Stephensen [54] DIRECTIONAL MOUNTING FOR AREA LIGHTING [75] Inventor: Allan P. Stephensen, Chicago, 111.

[7 3] Assignee: Appleton Electric Company,

Chicago, Ill.

[22] Filed: June 14, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 152,624

[52] U.S. Cl. ..240/44.26, 240/3, 240/416 [51] Int. Cl. ..F2Iv l9/02 [58] FieldofSearch ..240/3,4l,41.6,4l.l5,44.2, 240/4426, 61, 61.11

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,149,785 9/1964 Appleton ..240/3 2,327,820 8/1943 Rogers ..240/3 3,543,016

11/1970 Jones ..240/3 1 Jan. 30, 1973 3,604,916 9/1971 Adra ..240/3 3,505,515 4/1970 Adra ..240/3 2,085,020 6/1937 Harding ..240/44.26 X 1,465,468 8/1923 Gerald ..240/44.26 X 1,664,544 8/1928 Everett ..240/44.26 X 1,765,865 6/1930 Day ..240/44.26 X

Primary Examiner-John M. l-loran Assistant Examiner-Alan A. Mathews AttorneyHoward H. Darbo et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT A flood lamp has trunnions which are journaled in a mounting bracket. Detents on the trunnions cooperate with two spaced sockets on the mounting bracket to releasably hold the lamp in two alternative positions about the trunnion axis, which positions are spaced ninety degrees apart. On the lamp housing are sights which define a line of sight for aiming purposes, which line of sight intersects the axis of illumination at 90.

7 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTED JMI 3 0 I873 SHEET 10F 2 DIRECTIONAL MOUNTING FOR AREA LIGHTING BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Lamps of the type discussed herein are employed to provide light to large areas such as a stage, an athletic field, etc. They need to be aimed only infrequently. But, because of the large bell shaped housing from which the light emanates, it is often difficult to aim the lights and determine just where any particular light is pointed, so far as the axis of illumination is concerned. The principal object of the present'invention is to provide an apparatus for such a lamp by which it may be easily aimed.

The present invention relates to a simple sighting apparatus for facilitating the aiming of a floodlight or the like.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevational view of an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a section taken at line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of the mounting bracket;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view illustrating the sighting procedure employing the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view of one of the sights;

FIG. 6 is an elevational view, partially broken away, of an alternative embodiment;

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of the embodiment of FIG. 6 illustrating its manner of use;

FIG. 8 is a partial section as seen at line 8-8 of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a view of the angle indicator and trunnion employed in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 6.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS The following disclosure is offered for public dissemination in return for the grant of a patent. Although it is detailed to ensure adequacy and aid understanding, this is not intended to prejudice that purpose of a patent which is to cover each new inventive concept therein no matter how others may later disguise it by variations in form or additions or further improvements. The claims at the end hereof are intended as the chief aid toward this purpose, as it is these that meet the requirement of pointing out the parts, improvements, or combinations in which the inventive concepts are found.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 1-4, there is a lamp housing, generally 10, within which is a lamp 1]. The lamp housing is generally bell shaped with the large end being covered by glass (not shown) held in place by a bezel 12. In turn the bezel is secured by a plurality of locking catches l3 and a hinge mechanism 14 pivotally connecting the bezel to the housing. When the catches 13 are loosened, the glass-and bezel can be pivoted back on the hinge. The light is emitted through the glass generally along an illumination axis 15. Immediately adjacent hinge 14 a sight 16 is affixed to the bezel. Directly opposite is a second sight 17 secured to the housing 10. The two sights l6, 17 have small openings therein to define a line of sight 18. The opening 19 in sight 17 is illustrated in FIG. 5 and sight 16 has a corresponding opening, not shown.

A mounting bracket for the housing has two arms 22 and 23. This mounting bracket is adapted to be affixed to a post 24 or some other support that will permit it to be rotated about a vertical axis during the aiming process. Arm 22 has a circular opening 25 therein to receive mounting bolt 26. Bolt 26 is threaded into a boss 27 forming a part of the housing 10. The bolt has a lever 28 secured to the head thereof so that it can be rotated to loosen or tighten the bolt.

Arm 22 is formed with an opening which has two straight sides 30, three rectangular corners 31 and a curved side 32. Each adjacent pair of corners and the straight side therebetween form a socket for the detent on the trunnion. The distal end 33 ofthe trunnion is annular in configuration. Immediately adjacent the annular end is a locking boss or detent defined by two projecting corners 34 and a straight side 35 extending therebetween. The size relationship is such that straight side 35 of the locking boss will be received within straight side 30 of the opening and corners 34 of the boss will be received within corners 31 of the opening. Adjacent the locking boss is a plate 36 on which there are angular graduations marked. At the rear of the plate is an annular collar 37. Collar 37 is slightly tapered and is received in a tapered annular opening 38 in boss 39 of the lamp housing. A bolt 40 extends through a washer 41 and the central opening in the trunnion (plate 36, etc.) and is threaded into the boss As a first step towards aiming the light, the lamp housing is turned from the full line position to the position illustrated at 100 in FIG. 4. This is done by first loosening bolt 26. Loosening the bolt is made easy by the presence of lever 28. Even though bolt 26 is loosened, the lamp is still held in the FIG. 1 position by reason of the detents (projecting corners 34) engaging in the sockets (corners 31) of the opening in bracket arm 22. To release this, the operator moves arm 22 away from arm 23 so that the opening 30, 31, 32 in arm 22 is positioned about the annular end 33 of the trunnion. Now the lamp housing is free to rotate in the mounting bracket. It is rotated to the position illustrated at 10a in FIG. 4. By releasing the arm 22 and permitting it to move back toward the arm 23 of the mounting bracket, the detents (projections 34) seat in a new pair of sockets (corners 31) to hold the lamp in the 1011 position.

The person now can look through the sights l6, 17 and along the line of sight 18. Because this line of sight 18 is at a ninety degree angle to the axis 15 of the lamp, and because the lamp housing has been rotated ninety degrees, the line of sight 18, when the lamp is in the 10a position, is parallel to the axis of illumination 15 when the lamp was in the original illuminating position. Thus,

one can easily tell where the illumination normally would be going. In this respect, the offset of the two lines 15 and 18, as illustrated in FIG. 4, is unimportant, but the operator can correct for this if he wishes to do so. Normally, the degree of accuracy required is not such that the existence of this offset is significant.

The operator then adjusts line of sight 18 to point the desired direction. The traversing is done by moving bracket 22, 23 about the vertical axis defined by post 24. An upward and downward movement about the trunnions can be made by loosening bolt 40. With bolt 40 loose, the collar 37 of the trunnion assembly will rotate in the opening 38 in boss 39. When the desired line of sight 18 is achieved, bolt 40 is retightened. The lamp housing is then returned to the full line position in FIG. 4. This is done by again springing arm 22 outwardly so that the opening therein surrounds the annular portion 33 of the trunnion. This permits the lamp housing to be rotated to the desired direction, at which time the detents seat in the sockets to again lock the lamp in the full line position illustrated in FIG. 4. Bolt 26 now is retightened to secure the lamp in that position. The alternative position 1011, illustrated in FIG. 4, is employed when the lamp is being serviced, i.e., the bulb changed, the glass cleaned, etc.

In the alternative embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, the mounting of the lamp housing and its provision for releasably positioning it in two positions ninety degrees apart are generally the same and the same numbers have been thus applied. The principal modification here is in the provision for the sights. There is a base housing part 45 and a cover housing part 46. These are releasably held together by latches 47. The trunnions are connected to mounting plates secured to the base housing part 45. One of these mounting plates is illustrated at 48. It is suitably affixed to a housing part 45. The sights are formed by two openings 49 and 50 which are diametrically opposite each other in the base housing part 45. To perform a sighting operation, the cover housing part 46 is removed. Then the base housing part 45 is rotated 90 to the position illustrated at 45a in FIG. 7. The operation in changing the housing part 45 from the full line to the dotted line position in FIG. 1 corresponds to the manipulations previously described with respect to the embodiment of FIG. 1. The openings 49, 50 will define 51 for the individual looking naled in said bracket member, a detent on one of said bracket member or trunnion member and engaging a first socket on the other of said bracket member or trunnion member to releasably hold the housing so that said axis is directed toward a desired field to be illuminated by said light, the improvementcomprising:

spaced sighting means secured to said housing and defining a line of sight that intersects said axis at a predetermined angle; and

said other of said bracket member or trunnion member having a second socket positioned to receive said detent after said housing has been rotated on said trunnions through approximately said predetermined angle.

2. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said angle is 90.

3. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein the trunnion member has two shoulders positioned 90 apart about the axis of rotation of the trunnion member in the bracket member, and the bracket member has an opening to receive the trunnion member which opening has three recesses each spaced 90 from the adjacent recess with each pair of ad'acent recesses being capable of receiving said shoul ers depending on the rotational position of the housing, a first of said members being movable along the rotational axis with respect to the other member so as to disengage said shoulders 7. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said sighting means comprises two elements positioned on opposite sides of said end of the housing. 

1. In a flood lamp apparatus comprising a lamp housing with an end from which the light rays are emitted generally along an axis, a mounting bracket member, a trunnion member connected to the housing and journaled in said bracket member, a detent on one of said bracket member or trunnion member and engaging a first socket on the other of said bracket member or trunnion member to releasably hold the housing so that said axis is directed toward a desired field to be illuminated by said light, the improvement comprising: spaced sighting means secured to said housing and defining a line of sight that intersects said axis at a predetermined angle; and said other of said bracket member or trunnion member having a second socket positioned to receive said detent after said housing has been rotated on said trunnions through approximately said predetermined angle.
 1. In a flood lamp apparatus comprising a lamp housing with an end from which the light rays are emitted generally along an axis, a mounting bracket member, a trunnion member connected to the housing and journaled in said bracket member, a detent on one of said bracket member or trunnion member and engaging a first socket on the other of said bracket member or trunnion member to releasably hold the housing so that said axis is directed toward a desired field to be illuminated by said light, the improvement comprising: spaced sighting means secured to said housing and defining a line of sight that intersects said axis at a predetermined angle; and said other of said bracket member or trunnion member having a second socket positioned to receive said detent after said housing has been rotated on said trunnions through approximately said predetermined angle.
 2. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said angle is 90*.
 3. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein the trunnion member has two shoulders positioned 90* apart about the axis of rotation of the trunnion member in the bracket member, and the bracket member has an opening to receive the trunnion member which opening has three recesses each spaced 90* from the adjacent recess with each pair of adjacent recesses being capable of receiving said shoulders depending on the rotational position of the housing, a first of said members being movable along the rotational axis with respect to the other member so as to disengage said shoulders from said recesses.
 4. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein said housing has two apertures therein on opposite sides of the housing which apertures form said sighting means.
 5. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein said sighting means comprises two sights positioned on opposite sides of said end of the housing.
 6. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said housing has two apertures therein on opposite sides of the housing which apertures form said sighting means. 